A pile of beer mats went up in smoke when part of an old chimney collapsed at a village pub.
Firefighters were called to the Stag’s Head, in Whittingham Lane, Goosnargh, after bits of hot bricks and ash fell into a disused sink in the Victorian building’s cellar.
The resulting blaze destroyed beer mats, pub equipment, electrical wiring and a water pipe.
But Aileen and Edward Albero, who took over the pub last summer, said thankfully no serious damage was caused because the water from the pipe extinguished the flames.
Aileen said: “The pub is more than a 100-years-old. It was the old chimney stack in the old part of the pub.
“The chimney goes down into the cellar and the fire is upstairs in the bar.
“It apparently has two flues and one of them fell in.
“The staff in the bar heard a bang like an explosion and my husband went down to investigate.
“It’s like a storage area down there, so in the sink we had all the beer mats and other bits and pieces.
“One of the pipes had burst so the water put it out, which was a bit lucky.”
The blaze was already over when a fire engine arrived at the scene at around 7.45pm on Thursday, January 10.
Firefighters said there was moderate smoke damage to the cellar and light smoke damage to a ground floor area, but the rest of the pub was unaffected.
Aileen said: “The chimney outside is fine, it’s just inside that it is damaged.
“The cellar has been closed while the repairs are carried out so we can’t go down there at the moment.
“Our customers weren’t affected. We’re open for business as usual.
“It was a bit dramatic though I suppose - a bit of excitement in Goosnargh!”
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